Chicago promotes computer skills for teenagers

(AP) — Students at every public high school in Chicago will have the chance to take computer science courses under a plan the city is announcing.

The new plan announced Monday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett elevates computer science from an elective to a core subject. It also calls for every high school to have at least one introductory computer science class within the next three years.

The Chicago Sun-Times also reports that the plan calls for students in elementary school to start learning the tools they will need to build computer applications and programs.

The district says such an emphasis on computer science is important, noting that one a quarter of all jobs in the city are related to technology, math, engineering and science.